Competition Rules

Playoff Format U10-U12-U14 for Fall 2013

Pool Play

Pool play will begin on November 2 but GU14, GU12 and some BU12 may begin a week earlier (this has to do with odd numbers of teams in the division). Pools will involve four games. Subject to weather, all pool play should be completed by the weekend before Thanksgiving (i.e., by November 23 and 24).

Boys Under 10 (30 teams)

Three groups of eight and one of six teams. Every team plays against four other teams in the group, starting Saturday November 2.

The top three teams in each group will qualify for elimination play. In addition, the four teams that do not finish in 1st, 2nd or 3rd with the most points regardless of group will also qualify ("qualifier teams"). There will be a round of 16 on Saturday December 7.

In the round of 16, the 1st place team with the most points plays the qualifier team with the lowest number of points, the remaining 1st place teams will play the teams with the fewest points, and so on. The second place team with the most points will play the third place team with least points, and so on. In all cases, a team will not play a team from its own group, at least in the round of 16 or the quarter finals.

The round of 8 on will take place on Sunday December 8, semifinals on Saturday December 14 and
the championship game on Sunday December 15. Teams that do not qualify will play one final friendly game on either Saturday December 7 or December 14.

Girls Under 10 (20 teams)

There are two groups of six teams and one group of eight teams. Every team plays against four of the other teams in the group.

The top four teams in the two groups of six and the top six teams in the group of eight and the next two teams with the highest number of points regardless of which group they belong to will qualify for elimination play, with a round of 16 on Saturday December 7, a round of 8 on Sunday December 9, semifinals on Saturday December 14 and the championship game on Sunday December 15. The four teams that do not qualify
will play one final friendly game on Sunday afternoon of December 1 or 8 (to be determined).

Boys Under 12 (11 teams)

There will be a group of 6 with the top four advancing and a group of five with the top three advancing and then the team from either pool with the greatest number of points not otherwise qualifying. In the group of 6, everyone plays four games on the four Saturdays starting November 2. In the group of 5, there will be five Saturday games beginning in October 26, with each team having a bye on one of the dates.

On Saturday December 7, there will be quarter finals. Semifinals
are on Saturday December 14 and the championship game on Sunday December 15. For the three teams that are eliminated - two will play a friendly game on December 7 and the winner will play the remaining team on December 14 (or Sunday afternoon December 8, depending on field availability).

Girls Under 12 (9 teams)

There is a single pool of teams. All of the teams will play four games, which will be played
on Saturdays beginning October 26. Because there is an uneven number of teams, the four teams that get byes on the first four Saturdays will play each other on Saturday November 23. Four other teams will play a friendly that day and one will have a bye.

The top eight teams play quarterfinals on Saturday December 7, with semifinals on Saturday December 14 and the
championship game on Sunday December 15. The 9th place team will play a friendly on December 8 against a losing quarterfinal team.

Boys Under 14 (6 teams) and Girls Under 14 (5 teams)

We are still working on the format. Playoff pool games will begin on November 2 (boys) and October 26 (girls).

The semifinals will be on Saturday December 14 and the championship game on Sunday December 15.

Last Two Weekends of the Season for Eliminated Teams

There will be no consolation brackets. There will be no third place games.

All teams which do not qualify for elimination play will play one more friendly game in the final
two weekends of the season. These will be scheduled for December 7 and 8 as far as possible.

Conclusion

Although the numbers of teams in the divisions require some variations in the details, the
basic approach is the same for all divisions. Division directors may not vary these rules
without consultation with the scheduler and approval of the Regional Commissioner.

The Region reserves the right to modify and curtail playoffs due to unforeseen factors,
including weather, field availability and other circumstances. The overriding rule will be that
all teams will have played the same number of games for points. It is, for example, possible
that one team will have played four games, and another three. If we decide that games must be
cancelled and that games that have been played will not count (for example, due to rainout
occuring in the middle of the day), we can use any of the following approaches or others,
as we see fit:

We can eliminate an entire round of games. The round we eliminate need not be the last round.

We can eliminate the number of games requiring the fewest games to be rescheduled or added.